Golan Aidai, Ramgir Aniruddha, Lamy Dominique
School of Psychological Sciences, Tel Aviv University, IL.
Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, IL.
J Cogn. 2024 Jul 11;7(1):52. doi: 10.5334/joc.382. eCollection 2024.
Our ability to learn the regularities embedded in our environment is a fundamental aspect of our cognitive system. Does such statistical learning depend on attention? Research on this topic is scarce and has yielded mixed findings. In this preregistered study, we examined the role of spatial attention in statistical learning, and specifically in learned distractor-location suppression. This phenomenon refers to the finding that during visual search, participants are better at ignoring a salient distractor at a high-probability location than at low-probability locations - a bias persisting long after the probability imbalance has ceased. Participants searched for a shape-singleton target and a color-singleton distractor was sometimes present. During the learning phase, the color-singleton distractor was more likely to appear in the high-probability location than in the low-probability locations. Crucially, we manipulated spatial attention by having the experimental group focus their attention on the target's location in advance of the search display, using a 100%-informative spatial precue, while the control group was presented with a neutral, uninformative cue. During the subsequent test phase, the color-singleton distractor was equally likely to appear at any location and there were no cues. As expected, the results for the neutral-cue group replicated previous findings. Crucially, for the informative-cue group, interference from the distractor was minimal when attention was diverted from it (during learning) and no statistical learning was observed during test. Intertrial priming accounted for the small statistical-learning effect found during learning. These findings show that statistical learning in visual search requires attention.
我们学习嵌入在周围环境中的规律的能力是认知系统的一个基本方面。这种统计学习是否依赖于注意力？关于这个主题的研究很少，结果也参差不齐。在这项预先注册的研究中，我们研究了空间注意力在统计学习中的作用，特别是在习得的干扰物位置抑制方面。这种现象指的是，在视觉搜索过程中，与低概率位置相比，参与者在高概率位置更容易忽略显著的干扰物——即使概率失衡停止很久后，这种偏差仍然存在。参与者搜索一个形状独特的目标，有时会出现一个颜色独特的干扰物。在学习阶段，颜色独特的干扰物出现在高概率位置的可能性比出现在低概率位置的可能性更大。关键的是，我们通过让实验组在搜索显示之前将注意力集中在目标位置上，使用100%信息性的空间预提示来操纵空间注意力，而对照组则呈现一个中性的、无信息的提示。在随后的测试阶段，颜色独特的干扰物在任何位置出现的可能性相同，并且没有提示。正如预期的那样，中性提示组的结果重复了之前的发现。关键的是，对于信息性提示组，当注意力从干扰物转移时（在学习期间），干扰物的干扰最小，并且在测试期间没有观察到统计学习。试验间启动解释了在学习期间发现的小统计学习效应。这些发现表明，视觉搜索中的统计学习需要注意力。
